Nelda J. Eakin, daughter of the late Carl Driskill and Hazel Hessling Driskill, was born on June 18, 1934, in Catron, Missouri, and departed this life on November 29, 2021, at Cedarhurst Memory Care in Shiloh, Illinois, at the age of 87 years.

Mrs. Eakin was a former homemaker and she worked in a pecan factory and dry cleaners while her husband was in the Air Force. She enjoyed baking, cooking, sewing, reading her bible, shopping for clothes with her daughter and watching TV, especially “The Price is Right”. She was a lifelong member of Garden Ridge General Baptist Church near Bell City, Missouri and a member of Rosewood Heights Community Church in East Alton, Illinois.

On July 29, 1950, in Piggott, Arkansas, she was united in marriage to Buel K. Eakin. Mr. Eakin preceded her in death on February 11, 1998.

She is survived by her daughter, Deborah Ray of Belleville, Illinois; by her brother, Carl Driskill Jr. of Panama City Beach, Florida; by two grandchildren, Michael McCormick and wife Jaime of Belleville, Illinois and Nathaniel Ray and wife Katheren of Pelham, Alabama; by her great-grandson, Dylan McCormick; by her great-granddaughter due April 2022; and by her nephew, Terry and niece, Stephanie both of Panama City Beach, Florida.

Other than by her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by her daughter, Belinda Sutterer; and by her brother, Norval Driskill.

Visitation will be held at Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, from 9:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.

Funeral services will then be conducted in the Mathis Funeral Home Chapel on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. with Everett Hessling officiating.

Interment will follow in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Sikeston.

Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter is assisting with arrangements.